Tuesday, February 2, 2010

By every account Rahm Emanuel is a nasty little man with a bad temper and a chip on his shoulder. Your basic Chicago street thug. A little bully in the finest traditions of mobsters like Al Capone. It’s no wonder that he fits in so well with his Chicago street thug boss.

You see, Rahm Emanuel, the petite ballerina, is Barack Obama’s chief-of-staff. He’s the guy that basically run’s Obama’s agenda. Now granted, even in good times, with a capable president, not an easy job. But most men who have had this job have been able to perform it with a sense of dignity, and even style. But not old Rahm "dead fish" Emanuel.

Emanuel got this nickname, by the way, because he actually mailed a dead fish a pollster who didn’t give him the results he wanted. Hmm, didn’t the white House just attack pollster Scott Rasmussen? I’ve got a revolutionary idea for you Rahm: How about instead of attacking the messenger, you figure out a way for Obama not to suck at his job!

Today, former Clinton advisor and Illinois Rep. Rahm Emanuel accepted Barack Obama's offer to be chief of staff for the incoming president.

The pick of Emanuel is our first glimpse into the future Obama White House, and it has already thrown apprehensive Democrats and jaded Republicans alike into a tizzy.

Perhaps for good reason. With the nickname "Rahmbo" and a disposition likened to that of a mobster, Emanuel, though widely respected for his moxy and get-it-done record, isn't exactly Mr. Nice Guy. A dynamic mix of talent and brawn -- he was offered a scholarship to the Joffrey Ballet company and volunteered for the Israeli Army during the Gulf War -- Emanuel's the real-deal pitbull Democrat (lipstick not included).

What follows is a list of the five most infamous Rahmbo tales. It's the stuff legends are made of:

1. Mailing a Dead Fish

Emanuel is known for his panache for treating donors right. He sends them cheesecakes from Eli's, the famous Chicago bakery. But the one pollster who notoriously ticked off Rahmbo received a 2 1/2 foot decomposing fish in the mail -- ripe, stinky, and to the point.

2. Fundraising the Bugsy Siegel Way

His foray into fundraising started in Chicago while campaigning for Mayor Richard Daley's reelection, when Emanuel raised a record number of donations. His sales pitch was simple enough: He'd tell contributors he found their offers so low it was embarrassing and then hang up on them. Mortified, the donors were shamed into calling back and giving more.

3. Nearly Losing His Finger

When he was a senior in high school, he sliced his finger while working at Arby's. But instead of seeking medical attention, he decided to celebrate prom night by swimming in Lake Michigan. The bone and blood infection that resulted was so severe it practically killed him. Scrappy and determined, even at death's door with a fever of 106 degrees, he pulled through, only losing part of his finger.

4. Threatening Tony Blair

Never a mincer of words, Emanuel didn't couch his meaning when he offered Tony Blair counsel just before the then British prime minister appeared with President Clinton during the Monica Lewinsky scandal: "This is important. Don't f@ck it up."

5. Knifing the Dinner Table

The most infamous Rahmbo story of them all is the one that begins with the dinner the night after Bill Clinton was elected in 1992. Among those present at the dinner table was ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos, who watched while an overwrought and clearly exhausted Emanuel began ranting at a long list of Clinton "enemies." As he shouted each name, he stabbed the table with his steak knife: "Nat Landow! Dead! Cliff Jackson! Dead!" Apparently, others joined in.

The bottom line: If Emanuel's appointment is a signal of anything, it is that the genteel, arugula-eating president-elect is coming to play hardball.

This guy reads like a true psychopath. (Of course, so do most of Obama’s people) Not sure which is more insane though, the dead fish story or the stabbing the table story.

By the way, psychopathic behavior runs in the family, as Rahm’s brother, Ezekiel is none other than the infamous "Dr Death" Obama’s "health care advisor" who literally wrote the book on setting up the "death panels" that Sarah Palin made famous last summer. A real sick man. You can read more here.

The newly-released mind-boggling, record-smashing $3,400,000,000,000 federal budget invites plenty of opportunity to debate the merits of incurring more and more debt that will drown the next generation of Americans. Never has it been possible to spend your way out of debt. So... let the debate begin.

Included in the debate process will be opportunities for our president to deliberate internally the wisdom of this debt explosion, along with other economic, military and social issues facing our country. Our president will discuss these important issues with Democrat leaders and those within his inner circle. I would ask the president to show decency in this process by eliminating one member of that inner circle, Mr. Rahm Emanuel, and not allow Rahm’s continued indecent tactics to cloud efforts. Yes, Rahm is known for his caustic, crude references about those with whom he disagrees, but his recent tirade against participants in a strategy session was such a strong slap in many American faces that our president is doing himself a disservice by seeming to condone Rahm’s recent sick and offensive tactic.

The Obama Administration’s Chief of Staff scolded participants, calling them, "F---ing retarded," according to several participants, as reported in the Wall Street Journal.

Just as we’d be appalled if any public figure of Rahm’s stature ever used the "N-word" or other such inappropriate language, Rahm’s slur on all God’s children with cognitive and developmental disabilities – and the people who love them – is unacceptable, and it’s heartbreaking.

A patriot in North Andover, Massachusetts, notified me of Rahm’s "retarded" slam. I join this gentleman, who is the father of a beautiful child born with Down Syndrome, in asking why the Special Olympics, National Down Syndrome Society and other groups condemning Rahm’s degrading scolding have been completely ignored by the White House. No comment from his boss, the president?

As my friend in North Andover says, "This isn’t about politics; it’s about decency. I am not speaking as a political figure but as a parent and as an everyday American wanting my child to grow up in a country free from mindless prejudice and discrimination, free from gratuitous insults of people who are ostensibly smart enough to know better... Have you no sense of decency, sir?"

Mr. President, you can do better, and our country deserves better.

- Sarah Palin

I’m with Sarah on this one. Of course I’m not sure if she’ll get much of a response from a guy who said this:

I’m sure Obama gets this honestly. After all, he’s from a degenerate movement, the "progressive" movement which brought us such lovely people as Margaret Sanger, the Ku Klux Klanner who brought us Planned Parenthood and said this of the disabled:

"More children from the fit, less from the unfit -- that is the chief aim of birth control."

---Birth Control Review, May 1919, p. 12

She also said this:

"The most merciful thing that a large family does to one of its infant members is to kill it."

Then, of course, there is Rahm’s brother, Dr Death, who says medical care should be reserved for the non-disabled:

not given to those "who are irreversibly prevented from being or becoming participating citizens . . . An obvious example is not guaranteeing health services to patients with dementia"

—(Hastings Center Report, Nov.-Dec. '96).

In contrast, from all of that ugliness, here is a video Sarah made for the 2009 Special Olympics. Quite a different outlook.

I understand where Sarah is coming from here. Thanks to the "progressive" movement, we have becme a society that no longer values human life and actually looks down on those with any sort of disability, as burdens on society.

Somewhere between 80 to 90 percent of women who are told their babies will be born with Downs Syndrome chose to kill their babies rather than give birth. This is a real tragedy, but just part of what modern "progressive" living has brought us.

In the end, this isn’t just about the hateful ramblings from a truly disgusting little man. No, this is about a society, and a political movement that has been destroying our nation, and the values it was built on, for over a century. It’s time for the entire "progressive" movement to be dismantled and destroyed. Time to send this vile and disgusting ideology into that big old dumpster full of failed, evil dogma in the sky!

Sending Rahm Emanuel packing is a good place to start the house cleaning!

About A Time For Choosing

Gary P is editor and publisher of A Time For Choosing as well as a contributor to Red State, Digital Journal, The Sarah Palin Web Brigade, The Sarah Palin Information Blog, and other conservative sites.

A Time For Choosing is a website based on solid Ronald Reagan/Sarah Palin conservatism. We give no apologies, and accept no substitutes.

This website is named after Ronald Reagan's iconic 1964 speech at the Republican National Convention of the same name. Although, A Time For Choosing is the speech's official title, it is so iconic, so well known, and so highly quoted, it is simply known as "The Speech."

It's time for all Americans to choose the nation they wish to live in. do they want to continue to live in a free nation and retain their God given liberties, or do they want to allow someone to take it all away?

Do Americans want a nation where they can live their lives as they see fit, or do they want a totalitarian, oppressive government?